Virginity check for female recruits: Indonesian army ends the abusive two-finger test

The Indonesian army's chief of staff has said that women wanting to join the troops will no longer be subjected to virginity tests.

Human rights organisations have long denounced the practice, calling it humiliating and traumatic.

The procedure is known in Indonesia as the "two-finger test," since doctors would put two fingers into the woman's vagina during the examination to see if the hymen was still intact.

Those who were not deemed virgins were not eligible for recruitment.

"Two-finger tests" was systematic, abusive and cruel, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), which conducted investigations in 2014 into the practice and in 2017 renewed calls for it to end.

The military previously stated that the exams were crucial in assessing the morals of recruits.

They have "no scientific value," according to the World Health Organization, and the presence of a hymen is not a reliable sign on intercourse.

On Tuesday, Indonesian army chief of staff Andika Perkasa informed reporters that such exams were no longer conducted in the army.

"Whether the hymen was ruptured or partially ruptured was part of the examination ... now there`s no more of that," he said, in comments that were confirmed by a military spokesman.

Andika last week said that the army selection process for male and female recruits must be equal.

Rights activists welcomed the move, reiterating that such tests were a form of violence against women.

It's unclear if the restriction has been lifted for Indonesia's navy and air force as well.

In 2015, the national police force abolished the policy.

(With inputs from agencies)